Arcot Special - Makkan Peda

I still couldn't believe that my tiny little space has got 99 recipes in it and am too excited to post my 100th recipe here today. When I was thinking on what to post special for this milestone, this is one special sweet that came to my mind, as it has been a family favorite and my hubby loves this. He, being the key person behind this blog space and a great lover of sweets, I ended up making this delicacy as my 100th post..Yes it is Makkan Peda, a specialty of Arcot. I got introduced to this sweet by my beloved brother and friend, Billy who is from Ranipet. He often gets me this and another specialty of theirs, Malai Kaja. Am overwhelmed that I could recreate the recipe at home today. I take this opportunity to thank you all who encourage me and support me, without which I may not have reached this.

Here is the recipe :)

Happy Cooking :) Would love to hear the feed backs :) 

Malpuas - A Delicacy to Relish

Today being my 14th weeding anniversary, I made these traditional Malpuas which are nothing but deep fried yet softy Pancakes drenched in sugar syrup and served warm garnished with nuts and saffron. It is a North Indian Sweet and is a offered to Lord Jagannath as mornining neivedhyam. This is also a popular sweet made during Holi Festival. I have shared here my own version of Thinai Malpua (Foxtail Millet Malpua) here with Rabdi. Today I am sharing the recipe of traditional Malpua made with Refined Flour.

Happy Cooking :) 

One Pot Autolysis Pomegranate Kesari

Today being an auspicious day, Guru Purnima, I wanted to start putting my OPOS Recipes in my Blog. OPOS is nothing but One Pot One Shot Cooking Method founded by Mr.Ramakrishnan (You can check for his OPOS recipes here). I became member of the OPOS Food Group in Face Book called UBF (United By Food) an year back. The amount of learning over this year is humongous and I started cooking most of my recipes by this method only. To me OPOS is more a science and if we really understand the nuances, techniques and standardization, almost every other recipe can be done by OPOS in a more flavorful way. Thanks to Ramakrishnan, the food scientist, behind all those A to Z techniques of this OPOS method. I am planning to post all my OPOS recipes here as a separate section.

I love experimenting with sweets and especially Kesari is one recipe which I have done enough of my crazy combinations. After joining UBF I couldnt even think of going back to old method of making Kesari which involves continuous stirring and at some  critical times I have always ended up with lumpy kesari. Thanks to Chithra Viswanathan ma, another legendary cook and author of AskChithvish, from whom I learnt this autolysis method of making One Pot Kesari. In her words, we can make glide in throat kesari with autolysis.
Here is my special One Post Autolysis Pomegranate Kesari for this Guru Purnima Neivedhyam.

Happy Guru Purnima :) 

Millet Malpua With Rabdi

A journey of an awesome year as a food blogger..yes its one year completion today and am stepping into second year of blogging. Being a full time working professional I normally get very little time to update recipes here. Even then I managed to post 74 Recipes here and this comes as my 75th post which is very special milestone for me. Wanted to post something sweet and new..hence this twist to a very traditional and famous North Indian Delicacy..Malpua With Rabdi. I always wanted to try this myself at home and its my first try of Malpuas but with a healthy variation. Yes, I used Foxtail Millet Flour instead the usual Maida or Atta as the Original Version Calls out.


Thinai or Fox Tail Millet is gluten free millet, rich in protein and good amounts of Iron and Calcium. It is also rich in dietary fiber and hence serves as a boon for diabetic patients. It releases glucose steadily without affecting the metabolism of the body.

Thanks a lot for the support and encouragement over this one year and am planning to post more Organic Cooking Recipes in coming year.

Here's the Foxtail Millet Malpua with Rabdi to Celebrate the Anniversary of KitchenDB.. :)

Keep Supporting and Encouraging..Welcome your Feed Backs :) 

Ambalapuzha Paal Payasam

A recipe which I have been relishing over these 14 years, being married to a Mallu at Ambalapuzha Temple..an authentic recipe of Kerala and this is being offered as Neivedhyam to Lord Sree Krishna of Ambalapuzha temple and given as Prasadham to all the devotees.

The legend behind this prasadham is quite interesting and am happy to share this through this post..

Source : Wikipedia 

God Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess (or chaturanga). The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he won. The sage told the king that he had a very modest claim and being a man of few material needs, all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chess-board in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square, sixteen in 5th square and so on. Every square will have double of its predecessor.

Upon hearing the demand, the king was unhappy since the sage requested only a few grains of rice instead of other riches from the kingdom which the king would have been happy to donate. He requested the sage to add other items to his prize but the sage declined.

So the game of chess started and needless to say the king lost the game. It was time to pay the sage his agreed-upon prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chess board, the king soon realised the true nature of the sage's demands. By the 20th square, the number had reached one million grains of rice and by the 40th square, it became one million million. The royal granary soon ran out of grains of rice. The king realised that even if he provides all the rice in his kingdom and his adjacent kingdoms, he will never be able to fulfill the promised reward. The number of grains was increasing as a geometric progression and the total amount of rice required to fill a 64-squared chess board is ((2^64) - 1) which is equal to the number 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 translating to trillions of tons of rice.

Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form, that of God Krishna. He told the King that he did not have to pay the debt immediately but could pay him over time. The king would serve paal-payasam (made of rice) in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt was paid off.

Here goes the simple yet a delicious recipe :) 

A Tangy Halwa - Apple Kiwi Halwa

I love trying exotic combos and my recent try is with Kiwis..I always have an attraction to this fruit..may be because of it luscious green colour studded with tweeny weeny black seeds..and an awesome pattern of flesh when we cut...nature is quite amazing..isnt it? Wanted to try some traditional sweet with this wonderful fruit..and thus I landed in this easy recipe which can be done in minutes..and the combo of Apple and Kiwi gives it an unique texture and flavour..

I tried two variations here..one without condensed milk which is truly exotic and the one with condensed milk which gives more a traditional touch..Try out this colourful and delicious Halwa..:)

A Tangy and Flavorful Strawberry Bansi Rava Kesari

In my Kesari Series, I tried this colourful and flavourful Strawberry Kesari with Bansi Rava as a sweet dedication for my friend Radhika on her birthday.. It was too good with the exotic flavour of strawberry with a tangy taste..A rich dessert for sure to treat our loved ones.. :) Happy Birthday Radhi :) 

Pineapple Bread Halwa

Wanted to make some quick sweet with the left over pineapple pieces I had brought for fruit salad and I ended up in this Pineapple Bread Halwa with Whole Wheat Bread slices which made it a healthy and easy to do recipe..

I loved the pineapple pieces that comes in-between while tasting..instead pieces the pineapple can be pureed and added..

Microwave Carrot Halwa

Carrots are known to be a miracle veggie loaded with lot of beta carotene which is a very good anti oxidant. It gets converted to Vitamin A inside our body during digestion. Its also named as World Healthiest Vegetables as it contains huge amount of minerals and dietary fiber.

Carrots are loved by all especially kids..be it as fresh as in a salad, cooked form, juices..and here's the most relished form of all..the dessert..Yes..Who says no for a cup of delicious and hot Carrot Halwa being served with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream..

Here in my Sweet Series, I tried a quicker method of the traditional recipe using microwave..It can be done in a jiffy when you have sudden guests and it tastes absolutely yumm.. Give it a try :)